I want to use the following phrase in one of my class pieces, but can’t because it’s a totally inconsistent tone. I’m trying to keep doomsday rhetoric and ultimatums out of it.
We can make these changes at our own pace, on our own terms, before we are forced to make them in ways that we cannot control.
It wouldn’t be inappropriate to use such a tone if you point out its overblown nature for effect or at least acknowledge to the reader that while it’s overblown, it’s also a really good description of the subject.